Over 200 students, professionals and community members gathered in Schiciano Auditorium Saturday in hopes of witnessing some ideas worth spreading. TEDxDuke, a locally organized annual conference, focused this year on “A Shrinking World,” the global physical and intellectual connections made possible by innovation. Tickets sold out for the event, which is modeled off the activities of TED—which stands for technology, entertainment and design—a nonprofit organization dedicated to publicizing world-changing ideas through conferences and free online videos. All of the talks will be available on YouTube shortly. The Chronicle’s YunChu Huang attended the event and asked attendees about their experiences at the conference.
“The world can both shrink and expand at the same time, and the way in which a place like Duke can make that happen is both exhilarating and a little bit mind-boggling.”
—Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations in his talk about the University’s efforts to expand globally
“Nineteen years later, I’m still coming out. When you think about coming out, people think it’s a one-time thing—it’s a constant process.”
—Todd Sears, Trinity ’98, a self-proclaimed “equality entrepreneur” and creator of the Out on the Street Business Summit, which works to spread commitment among corporations to equitable LGBT policies within and outside the business world
“Across all these domains, giving people… external, especially monetary incentives, actually decreases the rate at which they perform public good.”
—Scott Huettel, professor of neuroeconomics at the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, who encouraged individuals to act and think in terms of a relationship-oriented social context rather than economic transactions
“If you fear, it’s kind of a fulfilling prophecy.... Fear of failure is the primary cause of fear itself.... This isn’t a disabled person story, this is a story of all of us.”
—Junior John Broadbent, who lives with a rare congenital disease, speaking about how one can achieve success in the face of adversity
“My perspective is that if you’re going to be in the global world you’re going to be in a shrinking world—you have to take your heart and you have to expand it in the idea that it has to be as big or bigger than the whole world.”
—Brian Oliversmith, president and CEO of digital education company Urban Planet, urging students to build relationships instead of just connections
“What is inspiration? I used to think it’s this touchy-feely fantasy, but from my experience I learned it’s about action.... In the shrinking world, inspiration is not only contagious, it can be viral.”
—Jia Jiang, CEO and founder of Hooplus, a mobile application centered around promises, who spoke about using “rejection therapy” to turn fear into inspiration and his work using film and blogging to publicize acts of kindness
“The good news is, if you break this web, if you let that girl get educated, you help everyone.”
—Sherryl Broverman, associate professor of the practice in biology and global health and co-founder of WISER—Women’s Institute for Secondary Education and Research—who said improving education for girls is a means for improving health and economic outcomes
“I want you to urge yourself to be the stronger, riskier version of yourself and to be a global citizen.”
—Junior Shikha Nayar, who used “adaptability, curiosity, and excitability” as coping mechanisms for cultural transitions in her experiences around the world in destinations including India, Denmark and Hong Kong
“There’s too much positive energy [at TEDxDuke].”
—Freshman Ruici Ong
“What if all this time, ugly really meant beautiful?”
—Dasan Ahanu, a spoken word artist who said he believes in translating the stories of everyday experiences and sharing them as tangible expressions of art
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.